Iowa’s top election official has issued a written response to the legal challenge of his effort to review voter registration records and remove non-citizens from the lists. On Wednesday the American Civil Liberties Union and the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa asked a judge to block Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz’s plan.
In a written statement issued late Thursday afternoon, Schultz said he believes the rules he’s devised actually enhance the due process rights of anyone he singles out for removal from the voter registration rolls. According to Schultz, he and his office staff have identified “more than a thousand voters who are potentially” not U.S. citizens.
Schultz plans to check a federal database of people who recently have become naturalized U.S. citizens. After that cross-check, Schultz said those he still considers likely to be non-citizens will get a chance to appear at a hearing to prove they are a citizen. In his written statement, Schultz said his “only intent has been to work for integrity and honesty in elections,” because that’s what he was elected to do.
Schultz was elected secretary of state in November of 2010. He took office in January of 2011.